Re: [RC] Beware - overinflated corn prices! - Mary Ann Spencer
Seems this can be attributed to those who are
active participants in the 'futures' stocks. They have only one thing on
their mind: MONEY!!! ie $$$$$$$$ not anyone else's welfare.
IMHO this is a bit of shame. why can't we have capital type
ecomony and still have good basic values??
Here's a letter I've just sent to the TN
Farmer's Co-op website, concerning significant overinflation of corn prices
that I've discovered going on at my county's Co-op...
It's truly disheartening that in
this time of severe drought, massive hay shortages, and many beef producers
having to do massive culling - just to survive; that our county co-op has
decided to significantly overinflate the price of a staple item: Cracked
Corn.
True, as consumers, we can understand the need for a profit to be
made on each bag of feed sold. But, when we learn that Co-ops in the more
affluent counties of Rutherford and Williamson are selling the same product
for $6.25, Co-ops in Ashland City, Springfield and Springhill are selling the
same product in the mid-$6 range; and our local Purina dealer; TSC, is selling
it for $6.60.. We must wonder what the reasoning is behind the Dickson Co-op
to price it at $8.20 - and apparently this is 'down' from $10!
When I
learned that the Co-op I have been very loyal too - had overinflated the price
of this product, so high that I couldn't even afford it. I went back and
talked with the manager-on-Duty 'Rob'. He neither seemed to care
about the customer's concerns nor the fact that his store was significantly
overinflating the identicle product, from the same Laverne source - as
compared with surrounding county Co-ops. He made the statement: "no
one's ever had a problem with our pricing before."
Maybe no one's
bothered to go to management to ask why? Maybe they just got irritated and
went to TSC just down the road? Maybe they're like myself - and reside about
equal distance from three different Co-ops in different counties - and change
their shopping patterns to purchase from one of these other
Co-ops?
Although I truly enjoy shopping and talking with the personnel
at the Dickson Co-op, like most farmers, I cannot afford to pay inflated feed
prices. Added up over the course of 12 months, this would add several hundred
to my overhead - and that's only if ONE of the staple feed items I purchase
monthly is overinflated. Unfortunantly, Dickson Co-op has forced me to change
my shopping patterns, because of their business practices and apparent lack of
commitment to their loyal customers.
